CultureLab’s 2012 guide to summer festivals

IT IS that time of year again, when people in the northern hemisphere dig out their tents and take to the festival fields. As usual the music line-ups look amazing, but what about the science?

Things kick off in the UK with the Isle of Wight Festival (21-24 June), where the times between sets, including one from headliners Pearl Jam, will be a hive of activity promoting all things apian, thanks to the return of the Let it Bee campaign, launched with help from former Beatle Paul McCartney.

To keep visitors laughing at Latitude (12-15 July) in Southwold, Suffolk, the public face of particle physics Brian Cox will be on stage at the Comedy Arena.

If you fancy something more confrontational, comedian and physicist Steve Mould and chemist Andrea Sella will be at the Secret Garden Party (19-22 July) in Cambridgeshire, playing on old rivalries in a science showdown. Then, to unwind after all the excitement, you can plan a stellar holiday at the Intergalactic Travel Bureau.

After an impressive launch in 2011, Wilderness (10-12 August) returns to Oxfordshire with talks by public astronomer for the Royal Observatory, Marek Kukula, and polar explorer Ann Daniels, as well as ecological stand-up from hedgehog aficionado Hugh Warwick. The inimitable Guerilla Science will be on hand, too, to turn your clothes into musical instruments, while at the Shambala Festival (23-27 August) in Northamptonshire, the group’s anatomical artists will acquaint people with their innards by painting them on exposed skin.

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